Frankly, I found this entry to be decent but not perfect--and, honestly, not terribly good either.
First, the positives. 1. Dylan Neal and Brooke Burns don't have the absolute best chemistry, but theirs is pretty good--and far better than that between the Detective and Amateur in most of these Hallmark Mysteries. 2. The mystery is largely grounded and sensible, with a culprit and final twist that aren't terribly predictable.
Now, the negatives. 1. The plot, at times, borders on the unbelievable--and the movie is made all the worse by the fact that many of the more unbelievable twists are the cruxes used to move the movie into its next acts. 2. Three highly-trained cops who chase a suspect on foot and box him in somehow completely lose sight of him in a fully open space. 3. The Detective, the Amateur, and his father enact an elaborate breaking-and-entering scheme to get evidence on a suspect to use against him during a later interrogation. Maybe the cop meant to bluff him with the mere knowledge that said evidence existed--and not actually use the evidence itself as a part of her case against him--but something about the whole situation just rang false to me. 3. The final culprit decided to base the name and emblem for his illegal and secret operations off of a picture hanging for all to see in his house. 4. The final act involves the Detective and Amateur's sneaking--in the dark of night--onto the property of the final culprit, whom they both knew to be a murderer, in order to collect evidence of his guilt. Given that, at the time, the police already knew of his guilt and possible participation in at least one murder, it's hard to believe that they would ever allow a Detective and civilian to engage in such dangerous behavior instead of simply getting a warrant to search the culprit's home and another warrant for his arrest. 5. As usual, the mystery's final acts involve the Detective and Amateur's being held at gunpoint by the culprit and prevailing over him/her by some form of acrobatics and/or trickery. 6. The actor who played Bailey was changed for apparently no reason. That isn't so much a plot sin as a general movie making sin, but it always has been one of my pet peeves. If actors are unavailable, their characters really should just be written out of or replaced in future installments. This movie establishes that it takes place months or years after the last Gourmet Detective installment. The movie's writers and directors could easily have written Bailey out as on vacation or as having transferred to another Precinct or Department--and could have written a new Detective into his role. Audiences notice these inconsistencies, and filmmakers really should tell stories accordingly.
First, the positives. 1. Dylan Neal and Brooke Burns don't have the absolute best chemistry, but theirs is pretty good--and far better than that between the Detective and Amateur in most of these Hallmark Mysteries. 2. The mystery is largely grounded and sensible, with a culprit and final twist that aren't terribly predictable.
Now, the negatives. 1. The plot, at times, borders on the unbelievable--and the movie is made all the worse by the fact that many of the more unbelievable twists are the cruxes used to move the movie into its next acts. 2. Three highly-trained cops who chase a suspect on foot and box him in somehow completely lose sight of him in a fully open space. 3. The Detective, the Amateur, and his father enact an elaborate breaking-and-entering scheme to get evidence on a suspect to use against him during a later interrogation. Maybe the cop meant to bluff him with the mere knowledge that said evidence existed--and not actually use the evidence itself as a part of her case against him--but something about the whole situation just rang false to me. 3. The final culprit decided to base the name and emblem for his illegal and secret operations off of a picture hanging for all to see in his house. 4. The final act involves the Detective and Amateur's sneaking--in the dark of night--onto the property of the final culprit, whom they both knew to be a murderer, in order to collect evidence of his guilt. Given that, at the time, the police already knew of his guilt and possible participation in at least one murder, it's hard to believe that they would ever allow a Detective and civilian to engage in such dangerous behavior instead of simply getting a warrant to search the culprit's home and another warrant for his arrest. 5. As usual, the mystery's final acts involve the Detective and Amateur's being held at gunpoint by the culprit and prevailing over him/her by some form of acrobatics and/or trickery. 6. The actor who played Bailey was changed for apparently no reason. That isn't so much a plot sin as a general movie making sin, but it always has been one of my pet peeves. If actors are unavailable, their characters really should just be written out of or replaced in future installments. This movie establishes that it takes place months or years after the last Gourmet Detective installment. The movie's writers and directors could easily have written Bailey out as on vacation or as having transferred to another Precinct or Department--and could have written a new Detective into his role. Audiences notice these inconsistencies, and filmmakers really should tell stories accordingly.